Marcel Mauss

Marcel Mauss (1872 - 1950) was a French Sociologist and Anthropologist and
nephew of Emile Durkheim.

The Gift

In 'The Gift', Mauss (1924) explores gift-exchanges in various cultures and
highlights the reciprocal nature of
gifts and the obligation of the receiver to repay the debt. The
object that
is given carries the identity of the giver, and hence the recipient receives not
only the gift but also the association of that object with the identity of the
giver.

Mauss describes the Maori hau, which means the "spirit of the gift".
The hau demands that the gift be returned to its owner. In Polynesia,
failing to reciprocate means losing mana, the person's spiritual source
of authority and wealth. Gift-giving is thus a critical mechanism for creating
social bonds.

Mauss
describes three obligations:

Giving: the first step in building social relationships.

Receiving: accepting the social bond.

Reciprocating: demonstrating social integrity.

Prosocial gifts

Critics of Mauss point to
prosocial behavior where no immediate exchange is made.
Derrida describes
four criteria for a free gift:

There is no reciprocal giving back of a return gift

The recipient does not perceive the gift as a gift or him/herself as a
recipient

The donor must not consider the gift as a gift

The gift does not appear as a gift

Body techniques

Mauss describes 'techniques of the body' as highly developed
body actions that embody aspects of a given culture. Techniques may also be
divided by such as gender and class (for example in the manner of walking or
eating).

These include such as eating, washing, sitting, swimming,
running, climbing, swimming, child-rearing, and so on.

The techniques are adapted to situations, such as aboriginal
squatting where no seats are available. Techniques are thus a 'craft' (Latin:
habilis) that is learned.

The teaching of these methods is what embeds the methods and the
teaching is embedded within cultures and schools of teaching. A pupil who
becomes a teacher will likely teach what they are taught.

Norbert Elias and Pierre Bourdieu
developed the ideas further in habitus, the non-discursive aspects of
culture that bind people into groups, including unspoken habits and patterns of
behavior as well as styles and skill in body techniques.